Chain making machine



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

W. A. REID.

CHAIN MAKING MACHINE.

No. 573,537. .Eatented 13 0.22, 1896.

ll," M. 1 6 50 3 i 60 42 (No Model.) 3 Sheets Sheet 2. W. A. REID.

CHAIN MAKING MACHINE.

No. 573,537. Patented Dec. 22, 1896.

3 Sheets- -Sheet 3.

I Patented Dec. 22, '1896.

W. A. REID.

(No Hbdel.)

CHAIN MAKING MACHINE. No. 573,537.

m i I A E UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

VILLIAM A. REID, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO THE N. O. NELSON MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 573,537, dated December 22, 1896.

Application filed May 4, 1896. Serial No. 590,075. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM A. REID, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful Chain-Making Machine, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a machine for making chains composed of alternate open and fiat links, such as are now commonly used as elevator-chains, and which have in the past been made by means of hand-labor in a slow and expensive manner; and the chief object of my improvement is to provide a'machine by means of which the flat links of such chains may be formed and connected with the open links more rapidly and cheaply than it has been done heretofore. I attain this object by mechanism whose preferred form is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an end elevation of a chainmaking machine embodying my improvement. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the machine with parts broken away and the crank shown in Fig. l omitted. Figs. 3, 4, and 5 are detailed views of avertical longitudinal section on line 3 3, Figs. 1 and 2, and represent operating parts in difierent positions. Fig. 6 is a detailed view of a vertical cross-section on line 6 6, Figs. 2 and 4. Fig. 7 is a detailed View of a vertical cross-section on line 7 7, Figs. 2 and 4. Fig. 8 is in part a detailed view of a vertical longitudinal section on line 8 8, Fig. 2, and in part a view on the same vertical plane of aportion of a movable clam p ing-jaw, shown broken away in Fig. 2. Fig. 9 is a detailed view of a vertical longitudinal section on line 9 9, Fig. 2. Fig. 10 is a detailed inverted plan view of a corner of the clamp represented in Fig. 8. Fig. 11 is a detailed inverted plan view of the movable clamping-jaw represented in Fig. 9. Fig. 12 is a detailed view in perspective of a section of a chain such as my machine is adapted to manufacture, and Fig. 13 is a similar view with a bucket attached to the chain in the usual manner.

Similar figures refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The machine is preferably supported by a suitable frame or table having legs 1 1, &c.,

Fig. 1, and a top 2, Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. No particular form of support is essential.

To the central part of the top 2 of the table a stationary clamping-jaw 3, having sides 4 4, 5 5 joined by a central cross-piece 5, is attached, Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and9, and between the ends of the side pieces 4 4 there are open spaces 6 and '7, Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.

In the tops of the end pieces 4 4 recesses orsockets S 8 and 9 9, Figs, 6, 7, 8, and 9, are formed for the reception, respectively, of portions of two open links 10 and 11, Figs. 2,

3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. At the end of the cross-piece 5, next the opening 6, the upper corner is preferably cut away, so as to form a transverse concave die or socket 12, Figs. 3, 4, and 5, into which a portion of a blank 13, from which a flat link 14 is formed, and the inner end of a link 10, resting upon said blank, may be forced when the fiat links are being formed and connected with the open ones, Figs. 3, 4,

5, and 12.

Opposite the openings 6 and 7 are arranged fixed stops 15 and16, each preferably having a transverse recess 17 across its back and a rest 18 for the outer end of an open link.

A vertically-movable clampin g-j aw 19, having side piece 20 20 and a central connectingpiece 21, is arranged above the stationary 8o clamping-jaw 3, Figs. 1 and 11. At their inner corners the parts 20 20 are provided at one end with downwardly-extending projections 22 22, Figs. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 10, adapted to fit within the inner corners of an open. link, and at their opposite ends the parts 20 are provided on the under sides of their inner corners with recesses or sockets 23 23, Figs.

4, 7, 9, and 11, adapted to register with sock-- ets 9 9,with which they preferably correspond in size and shape.

The clamping-jaw 19 is preferably supported upon shoulders 24 24 of vertically-reciprocating rods 25 25, whose upper ends are pref erably screw-threaded and pass up through 5 said jaw 19 and are fastened thereto by means of nuts 26 26. Said rods 25 preferably pass downvertically through the stationary jaw 3 and the top 2 of the table, and their lower ends preferablypass through a yoke 27,Whose top rests against shoulders 28 of said rods and is attached to said rods by means of nuts 29 29.

To the yoke 27 the ,upper end of a rod 30 is preferably attached by passing it through the yoke and preventingits downward passage by means of a nut 31. This rod passes down through an opening 32 in a cross-piece 33 and is preferably connected at its lower end to a treadle 34, of ordinary construction, preferably pivotally attached to the frame of the machine at 35. The connection between the rod and the treadle may be made by passing the rod through an opening in the treadle and screwing a nut 36 on the lower end of the rod. Between the yoke 27 and the cross-piece 33 the rod 30 is preferably surrounded by a coiled spring 37, whose lower end rest upon the crosspiece and upon whose upper end rests the yoke 27.

The spring 37 tends to keep the upper clamping-jaw 19 in the position in which it is represented in Figs. 1 and By means of the treadle 3a the jaw 19 may be drawn down into the position in which it is represented in Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.

Two transverse shafts 38 and 39 preferably pass through the lower parts of the clampingjaw 3 and turn in bearings formed therein, and-one of them preferably passes through the opening 6 and the other through the opening '7. To each of these shafts a bent finger 40 is so attached as to be in a position to act upon a blank held within the jaws 3 and 19. It may be formed integral with the shaft, Figs. 3, 4, 5, (3, and 7. A gear-wheel 41 is also preferably attached to each shaft. Said wheels are preferably of the same size and arranged so as to mesh with each other, as represented in Figs. 1 and 2. To one of the shafts 38 a crank 42 is attached, by means of which the gear-wheels, shafts, and bent finger may be caused to revolve in opposite directions.

The operation of the machine is substantially as follows: The parts being in the positions represented in Figs. 1 and 3, a blank 13 of sheet metal is laid upon the top of the cross-piece 5 of the stationary clamping-jaw 3 in the position in which it is represented in Fig. Two open links are then placed in position, one link, 10, with its extreme inner end resting on the blank 13, directly above the socket 12, and the corners of its inner end extending within the recesses 3 8, and its outer end passing back of the stop 15 and resting within the recess 17 and upon the rest 18, Fig. 3. Another open link, 11, is arranged with its outer end around the stop 16 and with its extreme inner end upon the blank 13, opposite the inner end of the link 10, and

with its inner corners in the recesses 9 9,

Fig. 3. The upper clamping-jaw 19 is then lowered by means of pressure upon the outer end of the treadle 34: until the links 10 and 11 are firmly clamped in place and the blank 13 and the inner end of the link 10 are forced down into the socket or die 12, as shown in Fig. 4. The crank 42 is then grasped and turned in the direction indicated-by arrows in Figs. 1 and 2. {Ellis causes the shaft 38 and the fgear-wheel' 41 and belitfinger 40 thereto attached to revolve, and motion in the opposite direction is communicated through the gears 41 41 to the shaft 39 and bent finger 40 attached to that shaft. The bent fingers 40, being thus caused to revolve in opposite directions and toward each other, first rise. and strike the under sides of, the opposite ends of the blank 13, as shown in Fig. 4., then, continuing their motion in the direction indicated by arrows, carry the ends of the blank 13 up through the links 10 and 11 and over the ends of the said links and press them down upon the upper face of the blank 13, as shown in Fig. 5. The motion of the crank is then reversed and the clamping-jaw 19 permit-ted to rise, and the bent fingers being caused to drop back, as shown in Fig. the completed link 4 is removed. The links 10 and 11 are respectively released from the stops 15 and 16 by springing them out of the recesses 17, which are preferably shallow, and pulling them up over the tops of the stops. This is done by hand in operating the machine shown in the drawings. The resultingproduct is represented in Fig. 12. Additional links may be added in this way indefinitely.

It is desirable to have the offset at the end 14 of the finished link all on one side and to have the other end, 14 Figs. 5, 12, and 13, equally oifset on both sides, as shown, not only because it facilitates the attachment of the link to a bucket 43, Fig. 13, but also because it diminishes friction. form is secured by forming the part 5 of the stationary jaw 3 fiat on top at one end and with a recess 12 at the other and making the recesses 8 8 in the side pieces 4 4 deep enough to permit the corners of the link 10 to descend therein as far as the end of said link descendsin the die 12 and forming the recesses 9 9 and 23 23 and the projections 22 22 of the clamping-jaws as shown.

My machine not only enables elevatorchains to be made more rapidly and with far less labor than heretofore, but enables unskilled labor to be substituted for. the skilled labor heretofore employed.

This desirable I have described the preferred forms and fiat link, and for supporting an open link with one end before the face of the blank, a

bent finger turning on an axis, and which when retracted is in position to strike the back of the blank; and means for causing said finger to turn and bend the end of the blank adjacent to the end of the open link in front of it, first through the opening in the link, and then around said end of the open link and toward the face of the body of the blank, and thus fasten the end of the blank around the end of the link.

2. In a chain-making machine; the combination of means for holding a pair of open links, and a blank for a fiat connecting-link in position; a pair of bent fingers; and means for causing the fingers to turn toward each other and bend one end of the blank over the inner end of one of the open links, and the other end of the blank over the inner end of the other open link, substantially as described.

3. In a chain-making machine; the combination of a clamp for holding a pair of open links, and a blank for a flat connecting-link in position; a pair of stops preventing the open links from being drawn inward; a pair of bent fingers; and means for turning said fingers in opposite directions, and thereby bending each end of the blank over the inner end of one of the open links.

4:. In a chain-making machine, the combination of the clamping-jaws 3; having the cross-pieces 5; with the recess or socket 12; the jaws 19; means for opening and closing said jaws; the fingers 40, the shafts 38, and 39, to which said fingers are respectively attached, and means for turning said shafts in opposite directions, substantially as, and for the purposes described.

5. In a chain-making machine, the combination of the stops 15, and 16, the lower clamping-jaw 3, having openings 6, and 7; and recesses 8, 8, 9, 9, and 12; the upper clamping-jaw 19, composed of end pieces 20,

20, and cross-piece 21; and having recesses 23, 23, and projections 22, 22; means for moving said upper jaw to and from the lower one; revoluble shafts 38, and 39; and fingers 40, 40, attached to said shafts, all arranged and operating substantially as described.

6. In a chain-making machine, the combination of a pair of stops; a pair of clampingjaws between said stops for holding a blank to be operated upon, and links to be connected by the link formed from the blank; means for causing one of said jaws to move toward and from the other; shafts 38, and 39; bearings in which said shafts turn; a finger 40, attached to each shaft; a pair of gearwheels meshing with-each other, and one attached to each shaft; and means for communicating motion in opposite directions to said shafts, substantially as described.

7. In a chain-making machine the combination of a pair of clamping-jaws, the lower one stationary, and the upper one movable; a spring tending to force the upper jaw up out of contact with the lower one; a treadle connected with the upper jaw, and by means of which it is drawn downward; a pair of shafts; bearings in which they turn; a metalbending finger attached to each shaft; a pair of gear-wheels meshing with each other, and one attached to each of said shafts and a crank attached to one of said shafts, all arranged and operating substantially as described.

WILLIAM A. REID. lVitnesses:

BENJ. F. REX, R. GILsINN. 

